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Friday, January 8, 2010

Weekend Extra #1 - Twitter Top 20

Recently I published a post about how I am going to maintain a focus for my Blog. I had ideas for the days of the week, but when it came to the weekends, I just figured I would post some extra stuff I find. Then I thought...not enough focus there either. So every weekend I plan to post a Twitter Top 20 list. Throughout the week I am constantly checking Twitter and getting tons of resources that I think readers of my blog would be interested in viewing.

So each weekend you can expect resources, articles, stories, and opinions that I feel are worth viewing. Now with this list I will do my best to properly give rights to the person on Twitter who shared it with me. But if by chance I cannot do that, then please consider this my Thank You and acknowledgement to you for sharing your link on Twitter.

With a Snow day today, I am getting a chance to start early on my Twitter Top Twenty. These are in no particular order because trying to rank them would be rather difficult.

1.) Youblisher - Make your PDF files into a flippable book. Makes me think of Yudu in the sense of creating a digital magazine, but it looks more realistic, like a digital magazine. Really simple to use. All you have to do is upload the PDF file and they take care of the rest. They have a Demo that you can try out. Very easy to use. You will need to create an account, and that does require Email Verification. You can upload the file or provide a URL. Want to see a sample...view #10 on this list where I created one for Beowulf from LitCharts.

2.) Twitter Mosaic - A great way to create a mosaic of everyone you follow on Twitter. Now, to make it really cool, they need to work on organizing the pictures to create the Twitter Logo within the images. You can view my Mosaic at the end of my Blog.

3.) How Many Light Bulbs Does it Take to Change a Teacher - A great read on the impact of technology and the teachers role in the 21st Century. A point I like "The days of teachers expecting their professional development being handed to them on a silver platter are gone."

4.) Are American Students Lazy? - Great question, good article. My experience in the classroom would agree...but who is to blame? Parents? Community? Teachers? The Student? What do you think? Other countries are flying past America...is this the reason, or part of the reason?

10.) LitCharts - Boasting as a faster, downloadable alternative to SparkNotes. Offering tons of famous literature that you can read online, get a Printable PDF, or use in their IPhone App. I used one of the PDF files on Youblisher from #1 on the list. You can view it here.

12.) and 13.) Great additions for YouTube in the classroom. As educators we are always worried about the comments and Related videos on YouTube when sharing them in the classroom. Two websites help to solve that problem
- SafeShare.tv
- Quiettube

14.) Via Larry Ferlazzo on Twitter; A great article about how we are smart about evaluating athletes, but dumb about evaluating students, teachers, and schools.

15.) 25 Best Websites for Education Videos - Definately a site worth Bookmarking and taking the time to view the 25 websites. Some I had heard of, some I had not, so I will be taking some time myself to look through them.

17.) Great article about Wikipedia and how it is not a reliable source. Great theing about the article, is that it comes from Wikipedia. So maybe if your students read an article by Wikipedia saying they are not reliable they will maybe pay attention to it more. Shared by EdTechSandyK

20.) I will post my own Blog post about Twitter. I had over 400 visitors to my blog in less than a week to read my post: "Do you Tweet? As an Educator...You Should." For my new blog, I considered 400 a professional accomplishment since starting this Blog in November.

After this first post, this might become a two part series though. Ten on Saturday and Ten on Sunday...Twenty sure is a lot...of course, it did not seem like a lot when the idea first popped in my head.

Hope you find these resources of use. Just another reason why Twitter is more than a Social Network, Mircoblogging Site. It is a Resource all in its own.

1. All views, opinions, thoughts, or ideas expressed in The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness are that of the Author; Michael Zimmer; and do not reflect the views, opinions, thoughts, or ideas of his employer, coworkers, friends, and family or any other organization or business.

2. Michael Zimmer is in no way financially compensated by the products, websites, or resources shared within The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness.

3. All content is copyright Michael Zimmer, unless otherwise noted and in the use of trademarked logos for the purpose of reviews. Any sharing of the information and resources from The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness should be cited as such.